COURSE CURRICULUM

The English and Philosophy BA offers a structured pathway that develops your analytical, critical and expressive abilities across both disciplines. In Year 1, core modules introduce you to university-level literary study, exploring how reading shapes perception, and examine race, writing and decolonisation through influential Black authors whose work confronts colonialism and racism. You also gain foundational skills in philosophical reasoning through an introduction to argumentation. Optional modules allow you to explore areas such as poetry, philosophy of religion, theories of mind, and modern fiction. In Year 2, you build on this foundation through compulsory modules that examine literature’s engagement with environmental issues, human embodiment, and the relationship between philosophical method and literary study. A wide range of optional modules lets you specialise in historical and contemporary literature or key philosophical areas including ethics, epistemology, metaphysics and political philosophy. In your final year, you undertake an independent research project in either English or Philosophy, enabling you to explore a topic that reflects your interests. You can complement this with diverse optional modules on subjects such as Shakespeare, tragedy, feminist philosophy, bioethics, aesthetics, contemporary literature and global narratives. The degree culminates in a flexible and intellectually rich exploration of thought, culture and expression.